As a Pastime
by Azusasan
Summary: PicardxFelix. We have our pastimes, and our share of pesky people who can break our concentration during crucial moments but alas, pesky people can become pastimes themselves, too.


**As a Pastime**

x x x x x

A/N: I've been reminded recently by Cami's lovely fanfic that I haven't written PicardxFelix recently... Ah, I love being a pioneer. And as a pioneer, I should continue spreading that pioneer couple which I've come to adore massively...

I don't think I can write anything dramatic anymore. All my romances come out... humorous... But lots of people can always use cheering up, I guess. (Must think positive. Must think positive.)

x x x x x

_What will we hold tomorrow,_

_but the love we give today?_

_- anon_

Felix didn't look up from his book (Of poetry; Picard would later snort over that amusedly) when somebody sat down beside him underneath the shade of his favorite tree by the river. Rather little could shake Felix from his reading time -- then again, rather little could shake Felix from anything he was focusing on. Perhaps it was a gift, perhaps it was a curse, it depended on the way you looked at it.

But Felix's span of attentiveness was not the main problem at hand. The main problem at hand was -- well, hands. Felix's attention, however, was steadily straying away from his book of poetry (It helped that the current poem he was reading was titled "_An Ode to Alchemists_") and to the hand his sudden companion had nonchalantly draped over his on the grass.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Felix?" His companion -- Picard, of all people! -- said in a conversational tone. He kept his eyes fixedly on the blue, blue sky, giving Felix's hand a small squeeze. "Nice day to... cloudwatch, to read under the shade of a tree, to chase chickens..."

"Pardon me?" Felix asked, turning to look at him, and glancing down at their hands before he caught himself.

"Didn't you hear?" Picard turned and smiled lazily at him. "One of the town chickens (They had town chickens? Why didn't you ever tell me that, Felix?) pecked off Jenna's brooch -- the one Garet gave her last week, remember? -- and she's been chasing after it since."

Felix stared at him for a long, long while, his gaze occasionally dropping to their hands. "Um. When did that happen?"

"Oh, maybe a half hour ago." Picard continued to smile, but returned to staring up at the sky past the edge of the tree's limbs. "Chickens can run awfully fast, but then, so can your sister. You did know that, right?"

"Of course." Felix responded, blushing and returning to his book. He skipped "_An Ode to Alchemists_," finding it much too... Alchemical to his taste, and continued onto the next, despite his vow of reading every poem in the book, no matter how boring or Alchemical it happened to be. The next poem was titled "_A Cloud's Silver Lining_." That prompted Felix to lean forward and scrutinize the clouds. He didn't see any silver lining. (What liars.)

"What are you doing, Felix?"

"Looking for a silver lining." He said, as though it were the most common thing to look for in the world.

"On a cloud?" Picard gave his hand a small squeeze and Felix hoped he hadn't jumped as high as he thought he did. "Do you think clouds have silver linings?"

"I don't know." The brunet said gravely, his eyes narrowed as he glared up at one particularly sluggish cloud, never mind the fact all the clouds were moving at the same rate of speed across the span of the sky. "That's why I'm looking."

"I see." The Lemurian nodded sagely. "But I'm the cloudwatcher, Felix," Picard reminded him, discreetly leaning toward him a bit. Felix noticed anyway. "You sit back and read your book, and I'll look to see if any of the clouds have a silver lining for you."

Felix turned to look at him as though he were interrogating a spy. "Will you?"

"When it comes to you, Felix, of course I will." Picard gave him another smile, and settled back onto the tree, humming softly to himself as he watched the clouds with a serene expression.

The Venus Adept, appeased, returned to his book, knowing he was blushing furiously and trying to ignore the damned hand on his.

"Is reading your favorite pastime?" Picard asked out of the blue, and Felix, unable to resist the allure of his voice, looked up at him again.

"Is cloudwatching your favorite pastime?" Felix asked in response. "Are you looking for that silver lining still?"

"Mmhmm." Picard smiled up at the sky. Felix blushed some more. "To both, in case you're wondering."

"...Good." Felix said after a pause. "And yes, reading is my favorite pastime."

Picard didn't say anything for a while after that, and Felix was secretly glad -- that damned Lemurian knew just how to draw him out of whatever he was doing, and he'd always been able to do that, and it bothered him. How many times had he lost concentration at the wheel of the ship and ended up crashing into a bunch of rocks or something similarly sharp and jagged on cause of Picard?

But then, Picard said quietly, his fingers curling over Felix's, "You know, I like being with you, too..."

Felix looked at him inquisitively.

"As a pastime." The blue-haired man finished, his cheeks scratched red for the first time since he'd sat down beside Felix and taken his hand in his. Felix looked away, flustered.

"Clouds... Don't have silver linings, do they?" Even to him, he sounded like a kid who just found out Santa Claus didn't exist.

Picard glanced at him, a touch surprised.

"But it doesn't really matter." He put his book down, the calm, in-control-of-everything expression he was infamous for set on his face. "You'll go on cloudwatching anyways, won't you..." Felix shifted his trapped hand, slowly lacing his fingers together with the Mercury Adept's. At this point, it was uncertain who was blushing more, and Felix felt mildly proud that he'd made Picard turn such a bright red color. Lemurians. "Maybe I'll take up cloudwatching."

Picard finally found his voice. "What for, Felix?"

"I'll... we'll... be together more often then, right? And I'm sure..." Felix gave his hand a small squeeze. "...Spending time with you will become a pastime of mine, too."

_le ende._

x x x x x

Something seems off to me about that ending... But I tried rewriting it, and only that sounds right. (Otherwise, Felix sounds like a pervert or something, and "Felix equals Pervert" is not the lesson I'm trying to drill into your heads for today...) Yes. Well, you can't always have fics where the two boys automatically love each other. I wrote this fic intending to leave the reader not knowing most of Felix's feelings towards Picard...

(Was posted on the GSYaoi community on Livejournal, hasn't been posted 'til now. Yes, I know I suck.)


End file.
